From his early writings, we see that Goleman endorses the use of meditation and "altered states of consciousness" to numb our negative feelings. And from his 1995 best selling book, we see that he also endorses the use of drugs to medicate moods in his 1995 book.

I disagree with this view. First, I do not either approach truly heals deep emotional wounds. It might kill or numb the pain, and it certainly shuts one off from their painful feelings and environment, but that is not the same thing as healing the wound. Also, I believe if we turn to such mind control methods as meditation we lose several important things.

First, we lose the information our negative feelings provide to us

Second, we lose the motivation to look for cause-effect relationships, such as the parent-child relationship

Third, we lose the drive to make needed fundamental social changes

Here is an example of the kind of thinking that troubles me:

When someone abuses me, I remember that they are exactly who they are supposed to be, and that there is no "me" being abused anyway..

This example came from a "Ram Dass" website discussion board. Ram Dass was, or still is, Goleman's good friend. I have written more about him here. The discussion board link has since become a dead link, but it was http://pluto.beseen.com/boardroom/b/53268/View?n=00227